Anything wrong with Tagalog?
Sometimes I hear Mass at St Joseph Church in Central at 4pm on Sundays. This is celebrated in Tagalog and obviously Filipinos dominate the attendance and a Filipino priest will officiate it. I used to skip this schedule since I felt out of place by virtue of being outnumbered by the opposite sex. But I realized it's no longer an issue because I don't go to Mass and measure the ratio between men and women.
I admit I can't memorize the Apostles Creed in Tagalog; I grew up in a Mass officiated in English and Cebuano. But there's no problem comprehending the meaning at all. The homily is very well delivered by either Father Midas or Father Emil. The choir rendition is excellent. And unlike the 6pm Mass, ushers are willing to help you locate a vacant seat when available.
But a few of my friends here prefer to attend English Masses. The reason is that Tagalog is a little 'too deep'. I came to think of it. It's ironic*. When we talk in Tagalog, it's usually the Manila-based friends who come to frown/smile/feel puzzled when a term is inserted in a sentence (something I have often heard in my Filipino class with Ma'am Alejandro or Ma'am Carongay during my grade school/high school years).
As a Cebuano speaker by default, I have had those experiences when arguing is a pain because my accent is terrible and feels very promdi.
Although it's a fact that English is deteriorating in the Philippines as shown in difficulty of recruiting call center agents who speak fluent English and compose grammatically sound sentences, (As a sidebar, I felt embarrassed because our CLP poster's teaser is grammatically wrong. How many of my blog entries and SFC/Batch97 articles fall into the same category? Anyway, thanks to Junjun for pointing the mistake.) Tagalog may also be one of the languages whose principal speakers find it difficult to use. Pinoys would use 'sakit' rather than 'karamdaman' (sickness), and often substitute Filipino words with English thus the birth of Taglish language (maybe distant relative of Singlish in Singapore), the essential element of a coño culture.
Many congressmen and national leaders deliver their speeches proudly in English, often misprunouncing words to the chagrin of the press and often landing on Nestor Torre's Boob Tube Boo Boos at INQ7.
Or one tribal leader in the South who want to unite four languages/dialects by using them all in one speech.
The point I want to drive my blog is that we must not be hypocrite towards speaking/not speaking/using/not using our native tongue. And as I say this, even before I start studying Japanese from Gloria's book, I want to make sure I am well-versed with the Tagalog, English and Cebuano first.
* In the movie Reality Bites, Wynona Ryder was asked about the meaning of the word 'ironic' in a job interview and she failed. To a castaway like Ethan Hawke, defining the word was a breeze, when asked in the middle of a coffee talk. I somehow relate this scene to the entire situation I am talking about.
I admit I can't memorize the Apostles Creed in Tagalog; I grew up in a Mass officiated in English and Cebuano. But there's no problem comprehending the meaning at all. The homily is very well delivered by either Father Midas or Father Emil. The choir rendition is excellent. And unlike the 6pm Mass, ushers are willing to help you locate a vacant seat when available.
But a few of my friends here prefer to attend English Masses. The reason is that Tagalog is a little 'too deep'. I came to think of it. It's ironic*. When we talk in Tagalog, it's usually the Manila-based friends who come to frown/smile/feel puzzled when a term is inserted in a sentence (something I have often heard in my Filipino class with Ma'am Alejandro or Ma'am Carongay during my grade school/high school years).
As a Cebuano speaker by default, I have had those experiences when arguing is a pain because my accent is terrible and feels very promdi.
Although it's a fact that English is deteriorating in the Philippines as shown in difficulty of recruiting call center agents who speak fluent English and compose grammatically sound sentences, (As a sidebar, I felt embarrassed because our CLP poster's teaser is grammatically wrong. How many of my blog entries and SFC/Batch97 articles fall into the same category? Anyway, thanks to Junjun for pointing the mistake.) Tagalog may also be one of the languages whose principal speakers find it difficult to use. Pinoys would use 'sakit' rather than 'karamdaman' (sickness), and often substitute Filipino words with English thus the birth of Taglish language (maybe distant relative of Singlish in Singapore), the essential element of a coño culture.
Many congressmen and national leaders deliver their speeches proudly in English, often misprunouncing words to the chagrin of the press and often landing on Nestor Torre's Boob Tube Boo Boos at INQ7.
Or one tribal leader in the South who want to unite four languages/dialects by using them all in one speech.
The point I want to drive my blog is that we must not be hypocrite towards speaking/not speaking/using/not using our native tongue. And as I say this, even before I start studying Japanese from Gloria's book, I want to make sure I am well-versed with the Tagalog, English and Cebuano first.
* In the movie Reality Bites, Wynona Ryder was asked about the meaning of the word 'ironic' in a job interview and she failed. To a castaway like Ethan Hawke, defining the word was a breeze, when asked in the middle of a coffee talk. I somehow relate this scene to the entire situation I am talking about.
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8:18 PM
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